The CEOs of the U.S. Olympic Committee, U.S. Center for SafeSport and several national sporting federations will testify for Congress this month on the growing sexual abuse scandal within Olympic sports.
USOC CEO Susanne Lyons, U.S. Center for SafeSport CEO Shellie Pfohl, USA Swimming CEO Tim Hinchey, USA Taekwondo executive director Steve McNally and USA Gymnastics CEO Kerry Perry are all scheduled to testify for the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, according to USA Today. The hearing follows an outburst of sexual abuse allegations within organized sports, allegations that many say have been ignored or not properly addressed by sport governance.
The U.S. government has been investigating national sports federations since at least the beginning of this year. A Congressional committee sent letters to USA Swimming, USA Gymnastics, USA Taekwondo and the USOC (along with Michigan State University) back in January, on the heels of the high-profile trial of Larry Nassar, a doctor who admitted to sexually abusing athletes under the guise of medical treatment.
Congress also passed a law changing the SafeSport system to set up the Center for SafeSport as the exclusive governing authority of all sexual abuse allegations within Olympic sports and requiring sports members to report any allegations of sexual misconduct that they hear or see.
None of the testifying CEOs have been in their posts longer than a year and a half. Hinchey took over USA Swimming last summer. Perry is brand new to USA Gymnastics as of December 2017. Lyons took over the USOC just under three months ago after Scott Blackmun resigned. McNally took over USA Taekwondo last fall. Pfohl is actually the longest-tenured of the bunch, and was only named to her post in November of 2016, the year the Center was officially founded.
USA Volleyball CEO Jamie Davis, also new to his post as of early 2017, is not currently among the CEOs expected to testify.
Leave a Reply